A Density-Switched Repulsion Among Early Massive Black Holes Can Seed a Cosmic Chain (No Dark Matter Required)

We propose and test a toy-model in which high-density pockets of primordial gas rapidly
form multiple massive black holes (MBHs). Above a critical smoothed density, MBH pairs
experience a short-range, density-switched repulsive interaction (“fifth force”) in addition to
gravity. This repulsion inhibits monolithic collapse and promotes a percolating, filamentary
network — a cosmic chain. Using 2D and 3D N-body toy simulations with pressure support
and an exponential cooling law, we quantify percolation, two-point clustering g(r), the power
spectrum P(k), graph connectivity, and nearest-neighbor statistics. Across parameters, the
percolation linking length rth closely tracks the analytic interaction scale r∗ derived from
a Yukawa-like screened force via Lambert-W.
Importantly, this model does not invoke
dark matter or any other exotic particle species; the mechanism relies only on baryonic gas
producing MBHs and an effective, density-dependent interaction between them. We release
the data tables used in all figures.

https://zenodo.org/records/17085634